After a 7-0 loss against the Blue Devils, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders were focused and ready for revenge and played hard against their rival. Despite good infield plays and great catches, SPF pitcher and Georgetown commit, threw strike after strike as the Blue Devils failed to put their players on bases. Ultimately, sending Westfield back home with a 5-1 loss after a hard fought game.
The SPF pitcher’s powerful throws limited Westfield’s ability to get on base and gain hits. On the other side, SPF was able to capitalize off of Westfield’s pitches as they were able to secure multiple walks after numerous pitches did not reach the strike zone.
Being rivals, Westfield knew SPF was planning to enter the field with one goal in mind. Head coach Caitlyn Cheddar said, “We beat them earlier in the season, and we knew that they were going to show up for us today as any good team does. I think that ultimately they executed better.”
Though the plan was set, Westfield struggled to make an influential impact on both offense and defense as SPF’s defensive skills led to multiple outs and short innings.
Westfield made some changes in the second half of the game as sophomore pitcher Ava Heuck stepped in. Although it wasn’t shown on the scoreboard, Hueck turned the energy of the game around with some strong pitches. “My mindset was to help my team out because we were down, and I really wanted to make a statement, because it’s a rivalry game,” Heuck said.
While SPF was able to capitalize numerous times, sophomore Darby Revock was able to facilitate plays defensively resulting in SPF outs. “I thought that since I wasn’t producing offensively, I had to earn and be there for my team on the defensive part, and I feel like that definitely had momentum. When we were on the field, then I just wanted to be a leader out there on the field if I couldn’t find a way on offense,” Revock said.
Looking ahead to the next game, Cheddar said they really need to put some runs on the scoreboard to come out on top. “Tomorrow is a must win, because it’s not all about wins and losses, at the end of the day, it’s about your performance and your process. But ultimately, you got to win some games, and we are in desperate need of a win. So tomorrow we have to go all in,” Cheddar said.
The Blue Devils will travel to Old Bridge on Wednesday at 4 p.m. hoping to redeem themselves and walk away victorious.
